About Richard Desmond
Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British ex-publisher, businessman and former pornographer. He is the founder of Northern & Shell, a publisher that started by publishing music magazines in the 1970s, followed by variety of pornographic magazines in the 1980s. In the 1990s, it launched celebrity magazines (including OK! and New!) and Portland TV that produced pornographic television channels. In the early 2000s, the company sold the pornographic magazine titles and purchased the Express Newspapers, followed by Britain's Channel 5 in 2010. It launched The Health Lottery in 2011. Channel 5 was sold in 2014, Portland TV in 2016 and the Express Newspapers in 2018. In 2020, Desmond was involved in controversy after pressuring Robert Jenrick, the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to overrule the Planning Inspectorate and approve a housing development for Desmond's company. The timing of the decision saved the company £40 million but was later overturned. According to the 2025 Sunday Times Rich List, Desmond was the 122nd richest person in the United Kingdom with a net worth of £1.3 billion.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.